Emil Jones and a recall vote

April 04, 2008

A constitutional amendment to let voters fire inept state officeholders is almost halfway to the Nov. 4 general election ballot. There appears to be strong support in the Illinois House. Whether such an amendment is approved for a ballot slot by the May 4 deadline rests primarily with Senate President Emil Jones and his fellow Senate Democrats.

For too long those Democratic senators have been inexplicably willing to let Jones, their leader, enable the frantic antics of Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Will Jones' timid followers in the Senate keep letting him further the governor's bizarre behavior without challenge? Or will Senate Democrats inform Jones that citizens deserve the right to vote a recall amendment up or down?

Three days ago, this page urged legislators to put that amendment on the ballot. Little did we know that, on Wednesday, responsive members of the Illinois House would indicate their agreement 80-25 during a test vote. A formal vote could come as early as next week.

That's right. Eighty House members signaled that they'd give citizens the right to recall state officials and legislators who can't or won't do their jobs. True, 80 is shy of the 107 House members who voted last year to reject Blagojevich's proposal for the biggest tax increase in Illinois history. But our guess is that most voters are grateful for the 80.

Senate President Jones, this recall legislation is rapidly coming your way. If both chambers give it the necessary approval by May 4, it needs no signature from the governor to appear on the Nov. 4 ballot. Citizens then can decide whether Illinois joins the 18 states that now have recall provisions.

You can bring the legislation to a vote in the Senate knowing that it surely will be approved. Blagojevich has professed that he supports a recall amendment, so you'd be giving him what he says he wants.

Or you could decide to unilaterally insulate him and any other grossly underperforming officeholder from recall by the citizens who pay his or her wages.

It's your call, Senate President Jones.

If you stifle this legislation, we'll be eager to hear explanations from members of your Democratic caucus. Many of them keep whispering how fed up they are with you, the governor and the ties that bind.

But if they let you kill a recall amendment and deny citizens a vote to approve or reject it, they'll be just as complicit as you are. This is a case in which whispering is for cowards.

The Democrats in your caucus already have to answer for the dysfunction in Springfield. You're their leader and the governor's chief patron. There's one way, though, for your senators to take full ownership of that dysfunction: They can stand by like slack-jawed gawkers at a train wreck while you thwart the ability of their constituents to enact a recall amendment.

Many of those constituents are closely following the trial of Antoin "Tony" Rezko. They're reading remarkable testimony about their state government. At some point they may want to do something about that. Should they first be able to adopt a recall amendment, Senate President Jones?